Luiz Henrique Alonso de Andrade and Elias Pekkola
This research addresses the professional logics of street-level managers (SLMs) and bureaucrats (SLBs) working in the Brazilian National Social Security Agency (INSS) through…
Abstract
Purpose
This research addresses the professional logics of street-level managers (SLMs) and bureaucrats (SLBs) working in the Brazilian National Social Security Agency (INSS) through their perceptions of distributive justice and discretion. Since SLMs have the authority to influence SLBs' actions, we investigate whether these two groups hold similar viewpoints.
Design/methodology/approach
We integrate the administrative data and survey responses (n = 678) with earlier thematic content analysis (n = 350) in three stages: mean-testing, regression analyses and complementary qualitative analysis, integrated through a mixed-methods matrix.
Findings
Whilst no significant differences emerge in distributive justice ideas between groups, SLMs demand wider benefit-granting discretion, praising professionalism whilst adopting managerial posture and jargon.
Research limitations/implications
The study adds to the theoretical discussions concerning SLM’s influence on SLB’s decision-making, suggesting that other factors outweigh it. The finding concerning the managers’ demand for wider discretion asks for further in-depth approaches.
Practical implications
Findings supply valuable insights for policymakers and managers steering administrative reforms, by questioning whether some roles SLMs play are limited to symbolic levels. Further, SLBs’ heterogenous formations might be more relevant to policy divergence than managerial influence and perhaps an underutilised source of innovation.
Originality/value
By approaching street-level management professional logics within a Global South welfare state through a mixed-methods approach, this study offers a holistic understanding of complex dynamics, providing novel insights for public sector management.
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Francisco Javier Andrades Peña, Domingo Martinez Martinez and Manuel Larrán Jorge
Drawing on managerial innovation model proposed by Abrahamson (1991), this chapter tries to gain a better understanding of how the UN SDGs have impacted the practice of…
Abstract
Drawing on managerial innovation model proposed by Abrahamson (1991), this chapter tries to gain a better understanding of how the UN SDGs have impacted the practice of sustainability reporting of Spanish public universities. Data were collected from a variety of sources, such as: several email structured interviews with university managers, an examination of the Chancellor letters of sustainability reports of Spanish public universities, a detailed reading of some sustainability reports and a consultation of the website of each Spanish public university. The findings reveal that there has been an increasing number of Spanish public universities that have started to publish stand-alone sustainability reporting since the appearance of the UN SDGs. According to Abrahamson's framework, our findings reveal that governmental-policy forces have shaped the sustainability reporting landscape in the Spanish public university setting, and their behaviour is mostly explained by the forced-selection and fad/fashion perspectives.
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Paulo Fuchs, Carlos Raulino, Diogo Conceição, Samara Neiva, Wellyngton Silva de Amorim, Thiago Coelho Soares, Maurício Andrade de Lima, Carlos Rogerio Montenegro De Lima, João Coelho Soares and José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Andrade Guerra
Sustainability is understood as a complex and integrating area, involving the most diverse areas and fields of knowledge. Because of the innumerable socio-environmental challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability is understood as a complex and integrating area, involving the most diverse areas and fields of knowledge. Because of the innumerable socio-environmental challenges in the current scenario, a sustainable development that finds the necessary changes and advances for communities, industry and the various stakeholders involved is required. In this process of promoting sustainable development, universities stand out for being institutions capable of taking an analytical and questioning look at the directions of the society in which they are inserted and not just helping them to pursue them, serving as a model and living laboratory for the implementation of greener practices in cities. One of the actions that contributes to the consolidation process of a more sustainable university and the development of the green campus is the use of green marketing, understood as a set of all the practices that involve conventional marketing, focused on the search to reduce the negative impact or promote positive effects on the relationship between the institution and the environment. This paper aims, based on the balanced scorecard (BSC), to propose a strategic management tool as support for green marketing strategies, thus promoting, more quickly, the promotion of sustainable development in higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach
Four universities were chosen, from the literature, in terms of best practices for sustainable development, where the main dimensions used by green marketing were mapped. Based on them, the BSC structure was adapted to enhance its strategies.
Findings
To achieve the objective of this work, this paper proposed an adaptation of the original BSC for better management of green marketing strategies for universities, based on four dimensions: community members, university members, product and strategy.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this paper is to propose a BSC as a strategic management system focused on the green marketing of universities to accelerate the promotion of sustainable development in HEIs.
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Rosa M. Muñoz, Silvia M. Andrade, Isidro Peña and Mario J. Donate
Innovation is one of the most important foundations on which to create and sustain competitive advantages in companies, but at the individual level, employee innovative behavior…
Abstract
Purpose
Innovation is one of the most important foundations on which to create and sustain competitive advantages in companies, but at the individual level, employee innovative behavior has recently been jeopardized by the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. changes in workplaces, employee interaction, motivation). This study analyzes wellness programs and actions through which organizations have tried to adapt to the new situation caused by COVID-19 and their effect on employee innovation behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling by means of the partial least squares technique was used to test the study's hypotheses after collecting survey data from Spanish companies, providing evidence that wellness programs and measures to deal with COVID-19 through perceived organizational support and affective commitment encourage employee innovation behavior.
Findings
The results suggest that efforts developed by firms focused on employee well-being to overcome difficulties caused by the pandemic strengthen innovative behaviors by means of intrinsic motivation based essentially on personal commitment. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed by the paper's authors.
Originality/value
This paper corroborates and extends previous research regarding wellness programs, perceived organization support and affective commitment. It provides a comprehensive model of relationships that predicts employee innovative behavior. It analyzes the influence of enterprise wellness programs based on protective COVID-19 measures.
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Daniel de Bortoli, Fauzan Adziman, Eduardo A. de Souza Neto and Francisco M. Andrade Pires
The purpose of this work is to apply a recently proposed constitutive model for mechanically induced martensitic transformations to the prediction of transformation loci…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this work is to apply a recently proposed constitutive model for mechanically induced martensitic transformations to the prediction of transformation loci. Additionally, this study aims to elucidate if a stress-assisted criterion can account for transformations in the so-called strain-induced regime.
Design/methodology/approach
The model is derived by generalising the stress-based criterion of Patel and Cohen (1953), relying on lattice information obtained using the Phenomenological Theory of Martensite Crystallography. Transformation multipliers (cf. plastic multipliers) are introduced, from which the martensite volume fraction evolution ensues. The associated transformation functions provide a variant selection mechanism. Austenite plasticity follows a classical single crystal formulation, to account for transformations in the strain-induced regime. The resulting model is incorporated into a fully implicit RVE-based computational homogenisation finite element code.
Findings
Results show good agreement with experimental data for a meta-stable austenitic stainless steel. In particular, the transformation locus is well reproduced, even in a material with considerable slip plasticity at the martensite onset, corroborating the hypothesis that an energy-based criterion can account for transformations in both stress-assisted and strain-induced regimes.
Originality/value
A recently developed constitutive model for mechanically induced martensitic transformations is further assessed and validated. Its formulation is fundamentally based on a physical metallurgical mechanism and derived in a thermodynamically consistent way, inheriting a consistent mechanical dissipation. This model draws on a reduced number of phenomenological elements and is a step towards the fully predictive modelling of materials that exhibit such phenomena.
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María R. Belando-Montoro and María Aranzazu Carrasco Temiño
Service-learning (SL) is an innovative methodology aiming to improve learning while providing students experiences in the community. Consequently, students also develop social and…
Abstract
Service-learning (SL) is an innovative methodology aiming to improve learning while providing students experiences in the community. Consequently, students also develop social and emotional skills many higher education institutions promise to foster. However, few academic enrichment opportunities are implemented to develop these social skills and university teaching staff are limited in their knowledge of SL to promote active citizenship and civic engagement (Belando-Montoro, Jover, Ruiz de Miguel, Blanco, & Carrasco, 2015). This chapter presents an analysis of the presence of direct and indirect indicators related to social responsibility and SL in the degree programs of the Social and Legal Sciences area of the Complutense University of Madrid. These indicators include questions related to the social environment needs diagnosis and the design of projects that meet these needs, the environmental care, among others. The results indicate the lack of presence of courses on the direct indicators in the degrees offered. However, the focus on indirect indicators is relatively common. In particular, those common indirect indicators are related to critical thinking about social reality, the environment needs diagnosis, and the development of social intervention. The findings suggest universities increase their focus on social responsibility and community service in the university curriculum, providing training oriented toward socio-community intervention.
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Abstract
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This paper seeks to examine why and how M&A activity has been used by UK hotel companies over a 26‐year period and aims to provide a preliminary exploration of its relative…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine why and how M&A activity has been used by UK hotel companies over a 26‐year period and aims to provide a preliminary exploration of its relative success, given that the M&A literature suggests high failure rates or M&A transactions which do not achieve their objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is based on a combination of a multiple‐case study and comparative historical analysis to bring out the different levels of analysis embedded in past M&A literature and to identify changes of motives for undertaking M&A activities based on companies and their external environment.
Findings
The paper finds that value maximizing motives are prevalent whilst non‐value maximizing motives are not supported. The acquisition of brand names and rights is a major motive for the UK hotel industry, particularly in the light of global competition and the brand power that enables companies to expedite growth while at the same time reducing financial risks.
Practical implications
This longitudinal study serves to reinforce the type of target companies, particularly those that share similar resources or end products, for acquiring companies to select from in order to expect a higher M&A success rate.
Originality/value
This paper provides the first empirical study to integrate the comparative historical analysis approach with strategic management M&A theory to trace and understand how and why UK hotel companies became leading international companies. Through this interdisciplinary approach, the importance of acquiring a brand name is illustrated and identified as an essential motive, specific to the hotel industry.